Solutions

Solution

On my system I had this folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1 so I had assumed that the SDK was indeed installed.

When I re-ran the Visual Studio 2017 installer to check its list of installed modules, I noticed that the SDK 8.1 was not ticked...I re-ran the Visual Studio 2017 installer with this module ticked, and this time building my solution worked OOTB even if targeting the SDK 8.1.I don't think the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1 was modified during the re-installation, so I am not even sure what it is in the end...

Anyway, for sure the SDK 10 was installed since the beginning since it's ticked by default during the installation process.So IMHO there is still a bug in Visual Studio 2017, why does it targets by default a custom-lower-version-not-even-installed SDK when it comes bundled with the SDK 10...?